Dollars & Sense articles from September 1999

Dollars & Sense archives from September 1999

the short run.
September 1, 1999... TRADE Burma: Free Trade vs Human Rights A Massachusetts law forbidding the state from buying products from companies doing business in Burma was struck down by a federal appeals court in June. "This is a severe blow to the practice of...

ACTIVE CULTURE.
September 1, 1999... Pie [Art.sup.2] The sidewalk in front of a BankBoston office played host to a "Carnival Against Capital" in June to protest at a meeting of eight of the world's most powerful nations (G-8) in Cologne, Germany. In street theater, a...

WORKPLACE DEMOCRACY THROUGH LABOR LAW.
September 1, 1999... Few people today remember that when Congress adopted the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, its purpose was not just to provide a procedural mechanism to end industrial strife in the workplace. Rather, this monumental piece of New Deal...

'LISTENING SESSIONS' PREPARE FOR NOVEMBER TRADE TALKS.
September 1, 1999... Over the past several months, the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) invited the public to 12 so-called Listening Sessions around the country in preparation for November's World Trade Organization (WTO)...

WHAT'S WRONG WITH INFLATION?
September 1, 1999... In June, the Federal Reserve Bank's policy-making committee - a group dominated by bankers and other corporate interests - voted to launch a "preemptive strike" against inflation and raise interest rates. Just a tad, only a quarter of a...

MEXICO'S FAILED GROWTH STRATEGY.(Statistical Data Included)(Critical Essay)
September 1, 1999... In the early 1980s, Mexico's government decided to expose its economy to the forces of international competition and to increase its exports of manufactured goods as quickly as possible. The government said this strategy would speed up Mexico's...

THE WEALTH GAP WIDENS.(Critical Essay)
September 1, 1999... During the 1920s, the wealthy accumulated such exorbitant stocks of cash, they couldn't spend it all. Instead, they played the stock market, fueling a rapid run-up in stock prices. Lower and middle income households, on the other hand, lacked...

WIN UNIONS TODAY, CHANGE THE RULES FOR TOMORROW.
September 1, 1999... Three hundred union members and community supporters crowded into a downtown park in Savannah, Georgia, on a sultry June evening. They came to hear local workers testify to how difficult it is to organize a union in their workplace. Ministers...

HIJACKING THE FUTURE: HOW WALL STREET IS TAKING OVER WORKERS' PENSIONS.
September 1, 1999... In the Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, fiberglass plant owned by the French firm, Groupe Porcher, workers in their off moments are encouraged to use nearby computer terminals and check out the stock market. Like those in thousands of other plants...

CALLOUSED CONSCIENCES: THE LIMITED CHALLENGE TO CHILD LABOR.(Critical Essay)
September 1, 1999... On June 16, President Clinton stood before the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva and declared that "we must wipe from the Earth the most vicious forms of abusive child labor. We must put a human face on the global economy, giving...

DEFENDING WORKERS' RIGHTS WHEN THE WORKDAY BEGINS.(Critical Essay)
September 1, 1999... "William Jones" and "Raymond Miller" are both middle-aged working men. Jones was a senior administrator at a college; Miller was employed by the water authority in a town nearby. Both were unexpectedly fired. Jones, who had worked...

HABITUAL OFFENDERS: LABOR LAWS AND THE COMPANIES THAT BREAK THEM.
September 1, 1999... Some labor historians argue the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act was the beginning of the end of militant unionism in the United States. It took the teeth out of unions' right to strike, a right safeguarded by the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)....

THE WELFARE STATE AS WORK ENFORCER.(Critical Essay)
September 1, 1999... The cliche of the moment in international policy circles is that the high costs of welfare state programs forged over the course of' the twentieth century are a drag on economic growth and must be pared back. Policy experts hold up the United...

CREATING A NEW INTERNATIONALISM FOR LABOR.(Critical Essay)
September 1, 1999... More than 800 South African rubber workers employed by Germany's Continental Tire AG put down their tools for two hours last June in solidarity with 1,450 members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) who have been on strike for nine...

UNIONS AND THE FIGHT FOR MULTIRACIAL DEMOCRACY.(Critical Essay)
September 1, 1999... A decade ago, Local 6 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) was in danger of disappearing from the San Francisco Bay Area. In an experience all too common to many industrial unions, many of its shops had closed and run away...

UNIONS AND ESOPS: BUILDING A BETTER EMPLOYEE STOCK OWNERSHIP PLAN.
September 1, 1999... More U.S. workers now participate in employee stock ownership programs than belong to unions in the private sector. Almost nine million employees take part in employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and similar stock bonus plans at 10,700...

Understanding the Service Economy.(Review)
September 1, 1999... NEW RULES FOR A NEW ECONOMY: EMPLOYMENT AND OPPORTUNITY IN POSTINDUSTRIAL AMERICA by Stephen A. Herzenberg, John A. Alic, and Howard Wial Cornell University Press, 1998 Books on work in the United States focus disproportionately on...

ASK DR. DOLLAR.
September 1, 1999... Dear Dr. Dollar: The media constantly report that "there is a growing disparity of wealth," and as far as I know this is true. But I would like to know why I should care. For all those who say it is important, I have a simple question:...

WHY OUR PAYCHECKS DON'T MATCH THE BOOMING ECONOMY.
September 1, 1999... Since 1970, national income - a measure of all the wages paid to workers and all the income going to owners of capital - more than doubled, adjusted for inflation. Even adjusted further for population growth, national income per person jumped...